[ih] What does TELNET stand for?

[Jack Haverty]

Going back to TELNET...

Before the ARPANET, we used other means to connect a terminal to a 
remote computer.   Part of my student jobs as an undergraduate in the 
1967-9 time involved using remote terminals.  I remember one job that 
involved using an IBM terminal to interact with a IBM360 somewhere in 
New York.  Another job involved connecting terminals to the IBM 7094 on 
campus, to use CTSS (Compatible Time Sharing System).

At the time, the most common way to use computers involved punch cards, 
and there were rooms of card-punch machines available to write your 
programs.  Timesharing was relatively new, rapidly emerging as a way to 
actually interact with a computer in real time.   It was much more 
pleasant that other jobs where I used punch cards, submitted my deck, 
went back later to get the printout, figured out why it crashed, fixed a 
bug, and repeated until my program worked.

Many terminals were hard-wired to the timesharing system, but connecting 
to a distant computer couldn't do that.  Instead, we used modems.   The 
process of getting connected involved picking up the handset, dialing 
the appropriate phone number, waiting for the screeching noises, then 
punching a button or two on the modem to finish the connection.

But I can't remember how we spoke about that process....   Was it called 
"dialing-up"?  Or "connecting"? Or "going online" ???   I don't think it 
was "modemming" and certainly not "Telneting".   How did I say that I 
was connecting to CTSS, or IBM/Almaden, or wherever, as I dialed the 
modem/phone?   How did you?

Also at the time, telecommunications in general was fairly new.  In the 
early 60s, the ECHO satellites had been deployed in space. These were 
basically big metallic balloons that were inflated in orbit.  Radio 
signals could be bounced from one earth station to a distant one, using 
ECHO as a mirror.  ECHO also reflected visible light well, much better 
than the earlier Sputniks, so it was easy to spot visually from the 
ground.   ECHO was the star that moved across the sky as you watched.

A few years after ECHO, satellites with electronics on board were 
launched, to provide active "echos" of signals.  Onboard receivers 
amplified what they heard and retransmitted it back toward the Earth.   
Those satellites were smaller than ECHO, and thus harder to see, but we 
still went out at night to see the newfangled satellites.   They were 
more artificial stars to gawk at.

One of those satellites was called Telstar.   I don't remember if 
someone told me, but I always have thought that Telstar was shorthand 
for "Telecommunications by artificial Star".

I've also always thought that Telnet was a subsequent term introduced, 
by someone unknown who also was aware of Telstar, as the ARPANET 
emerged.  Where Telstar was telecommunications by star, Telnet was 
telecommunications by network.

But I have no recollection of why I thought so, or who named Telstar.   
Or how we talked about data communications before ARPANET.

Jack Haverty




On 8/23/25 06:48, Steve Crocker via Internet-history wrote:
> John, et al,
>
> This question caught me by surprise.  I was directly involved in the design
> and development of the initial suite of protocols for the Arpanet.  The
> initial suite consisted of the Host-Host protocol, the Telnet protocol, and
> File Transfer Protocol (FTP).
>
> An aside: The Host-Host Protocol later became known as the Network Control
> Protocol (NCP).  The acronym NCP originally meant Network Control Program,
> and it referred to the software that had to be added to the operating
> system to interact with the IMP and make access to the network available to
> user level processes in the time-shared systems.  Eventually, there was no
> need for a special term for that software and the term "Host-Host Protocol"
> was too bland.  People started referring to the protocol as the Network
> Control Protocol, and thus the meaning of "NCP" changed.
>
>   Even though I had been actively involved in the developments of those
> protocols, and even though I was first author on the 1972 Sprint Joint
> Computer Conference paper, the words "Teletype Network" or
> "Telecommunications Network" do not ring a bell for me.  A possible caveat:
> The Network Working Group grew from a handful of representatives from the
> first four sites in early 1969 to about fifty or so people attending the
> Network Working Group meetings in the next two years.  I remember realizing
> we needed to split our meetings into two parallel groups, one focused on
> the Hot-Host protocol and one focused on the application protocols.  I
> concentrated primarily on the Host-Host protocol and stepped back from the
> detailed development of the application protocols.
>
> The first mention of "Telnet" in the RFC series is in RFC 97, A First Cut
> at a Proposed Telnet Protocol, by John Melvin and Richard Watson.  They
> were at SRI in Doug Engelbart's group, i.e.. the second node on the
> Arpanet, and hence an intimate part of the Network Working Group.
>
> So far as I can recall, "Telnet" or "TELNET"sprang forth as an easy and
> natural designation for the remote terminal access protocol that we
> envisioned as one of the two initial application protocols.  I never
> thought of it as an acronym for a lengthier phrase.  I'm pretty sure we
> used the term "Telnet" in our informal NWG meetings.  By the time Melvin
> and Watson wrote RFC 97 in February 1971, the term was in common use within
> the group.
>
> It's possible they created the word as an acronym of Terminal Network,
> Telephone Network, Telecommunications Network, or something similar.  It's
> equally possible they created the word as a nominal but unspecified acronym
> of one of those phrases.  To do better than I can, one would have to ask
> them.  (I think Watson is no longer with us.  I don't know about Melvin.)
>
> In the 1972 paper, I agree with John Levine.  The phrase
> "Telecommunications Network" feels to me as a back formation of an
> appositive.  It's even possible I wrote that sentence, though I do not
> recall doing so.  Haefner, Metcalfe and Postel were the other co-authors.
> Postel is no longer available.  Metcalfe is, and I don't know about Haefner.
>
> Bottom line: I can't say for sure whether "TELNET" was created as an
> acronym or as a free-standing word.  I'm inclined to believe it was the
> latter.  In any case, as best I can tell, the 1972 paper is the only time
> it was associated with "Telecommunications Network."
>
> Steve
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 22, 2025 at 6:45 PM John Levine via Internet-history <
> internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:
>
>> This question came up on another list.
>>
>> I have seen claims that it's Teletype Network or Telecommunications
>> Network, which smells like acronym reverse engineering to me.
>>
>> Does it stand for anything?  Where did the name come from?
>>
>> R's,
>> John
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